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A review by leventmolla
The Eighth Life (for Brilka) by Nino Haratischwili
4.0
I saw this book from Nino Haratischvili in a bookshop I randomly entered during a trip in 2022 and I bought it. It was written in German and I read the English translation.
Since my family is from the Black Sea region of Northeastern Turkey, and from the easternmost part of it, Georgia is a geographically close but relatively unknown neighbour. When I went to the region somewhat infrequently in the past, Georgia was always forbidden to us, being part of the Soviet Union. After the wall fell, I did not have a chance to go and visit this mysterious country - at least to me - although the visit is much easier now with the possibility of having a day trip without a passport or visa. Maybe this is what attracted me to the book when I saw it in a bookshop. The English translation is close to 1000 pages, so it is a feat even to finish the book.
Haratischvili tells an epic story about a Georgian family across five generations, a hundred years and a lot of cities such as Moscow, Tbilisi, London, Amsterdam and Berlin. When the book starts, the narrator is a Georgian woman named Niza, who was born in Tbilisi in 1974.
When searching for her niece Brilka in Amsterdam, Niza narrates the family story starting from 1900. The narrative consists of the history of Georgia intertwined with the family story.
When Georgia joins the Soviet Union and is governed by Beria, a determined Bolshevik, then the personal tragedies in the family get intertwined with the tragedy of the country.
It is somewhat difficult to follow the story with personalities from five generations. The common destiny of many of the women in the family is that they fall in love with untrustworthy males. Some of the women have illegitimate children with these males and their plight becomes one of the main themes. The forward of the book mentions that the author uses magical realism, which is a known feature of authors like Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The only event that could be considered part of magical realism is the chocolate drink which is designed by the great-great-great grandfather at the top of the family tree - and never named in the book - with secret recipes he got from Vienna and which can get one to dreamland. If this does not have a symbolic significance, I don’t think it has been used effectively as a literary mechanism in the book.
The book consists of 7 chapters, each chapter concentrating on one of the family members. The 8th chapter consists of a name only, apparently, her story is still to be written. The author has not mentioned it, but I thought there could be some autobiographical content.
This is a must-read for people who like stories with vast families in it.
A theatre adaptation from the book has been staged in Germany in 2017.
Since my family is from the Black Sea region of Northeastern Turkey, and from the easternmost part of it, Georgia is a geographically close but relatively unknown neighbour. When I went to the region somewhat infrequently in the past, Georgia was always forbidden to us, being part of the Soviet Union. After the wall fell, I did not have a chance to go and visit this mysterious country - at least to me - although the visit is much easier now with the possibility of having a day trip without a passport or visa. Maybe this is what attracted me to the book when I saw it in a bookshop. The English translation is close to 1000 pages, so it is a feat even to finish the book.
Haratischvili tells an epic story about a Georgian family across five generations, a hundred years and a lot of cities such as Moscow, Tbilisi, London, Amsterdam and Berlin. When the book starts, the narrator is a Georgian woman named Niza, who was born in Tbilisi in 1974.
When searching for her niece Brilka in Amsterdam, Niza narrates the family story starting from 1900. The narrative consists of the history of Georgia intertwined with the family story.
When Georgia joins the Soviet Union and is governed by Beria, a determined Bolshevik, then the personal tragedies in the family get intertwined with the tragedy of the country.
It is somewhat difficult to follow the story with personalities from five generations. The common destiny of many of the women in the family is that they fall in love with untrustworthy males. Some of the women have illegitimate children with these males and their plight becomes one of the main themes. The forward of the book mentions that the author uses magical realism, which is a known feature of authors like Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The only event that could be considered part of magical realism is the chocolate drink which is designed by the great-great-great grandfather at the top of the family tree - and never named in the book - with secret recipes he got from Vienna and which can get one to dreamland. If this does not have a symbolic significance, I don’t think it has been used effectively as a literary mechanism in the book.
The book consists of 7 chapters, each chapter concentrating on one of the family members. The 8th chapter consists of a name only, apparently, her story is still to be written. The author has not mentioned it, but I thought there could be some autobiographical content.
This is a must-read for people who like stories with vast families in it.
A theatre adaptation from the book has been staged in Germany in 2017.